Anxious to banish all signs of backwardness from his remote desert nation, Turkmenistan's president gave a word of advice to the country's youth: resist the temptation to replace your teeth with gold ones.

While unfashionable in the West, gold teeth have long been considered a status symbol across central Asia, although their prevalence is also due to lack of access to dental care, calcium deficiency during pregnancy and an absence of fluoride in water.

Niyazov, whose features beam down from portraits plastered across the country, has taken pains to maintain a vigorous pseudo-Western image, sporting tailored suits, a jet black mop of hair that was previously grey and a number of jewel-encrusted gold rings.

Don't be offended," Saparmurat Niyazov told a female student who caught his eye while she made a speech at the Saparmurat Niyazov Agricultural University. "But whatever some young fellows tell you, white teeth look better."

"Besides if you keep your original teeth you can manage harder food," Niyazov said at the ceremony broadcast on state television.